Chapter 22: A Safety Net from a Past Life

Lin Xiao had never imagined that absorbing the painful memories of Yue Chongguang would yield such a massive amount of Source Energy.

85 points of Source Energy!

The figure was truly delightful. Just a moment ago, his energy levels were nearly depleted, with a pathetic 10 points remaining; now, they had leaped toward triple digits.

He quickly analyzed the possible reasons:

First, the agony of this memory far exceeded anything he had experienced before. In Yue Chongguang’s memories, the despair of personally torturing his only son to death and the cries and deaths of over a hundred children—that bottomless, soul-rending grief—naturally contained far greater energy.

Second, it was perhaps because his ability level had increased. After promoting to Tier 2, the efficiency of absorbing Source Energy might have improved as well. Otherwise, if he could only obtain 20-something points each time, the 300 points required for Tier 3 might be manageable, but what would happen later when the consumption became even higher at advanced levels?

Regardless of the reason, it was a good thing.

Now, he finally had the means to implement a plan he had been contemplating for a long time.

That was self-preservation!

Lin Xiao had never lowered his guard. This world appeared orderly, but it was rife with hidden dangers. The existence of ability users made the law fragile and ineffective. The tragic death of his predecessor was the best proof: the golden amber that was stolen, the blood-soaked body, the cold, ruthless hands of that woman... If he hadn't transmigrated here, this body would have already become an anonymous corpse.

Today, Yue Chongguang’s memories had once again shown him the cruelty of this world.

Lin Xiao knew that with his ability to absorb painful memories, he would sooner or later become a powerhouse and retrieve the golden amber that belonged to him. But the prerequisite was that he needed a safe environment to lie low and slowly develop.

Lin Xiao did not trust that the law could fully guarantee his safety; only by keeping security in his own hands could he truly be at ease.

Lin Xiao took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and concentrated, letting his consciousness sink into the depths of his memories—

It was time to start building his own line of defense.

...

...

Half an hour later, when he opened his eyes again, the room was neatly filled with equipment replicated at the cost of 5 Source Energy points:

A small server, a network switch, a military-grade portable base station, a wireless router, and an atomic clock and NTP server to ensure time synchronization—these were the foundations for building a reliable network.

The most eye-catching items were the dozen military-grade surveillance cameras. Matte black, only the size of a fist, they featured infrared night vision and waterproofing. The casing was made of high-strength composite materials, ensuring stable operation even in harsh environments.

In addition to the equipment above, there was a tablet to serve as the terminal for controlling these devices.

Spending only 5 Source Energy points to acquire an entire set of gear left Lin Xiao quite satisfied. In this world, there were no service providers offering internet, so relying on a small amount of equipment made it impossible to create a full internet in the short term. However, setting up a tactical local area network covering the shop and its surroundings was more than enough.

This system would not only provide basic network connectivity, but more importantly, it would establish his first line of defense through facial recognition and AI analysis capabilities. In a world where micro-cameras had yet to appear, potential threats would never realize they were being monitored.

Looking at the equipment filling his bedroom, Lin Xiao was in no rush to install it.

He planned to spend several nights completing the deployment quietly. The indoor cameras were relatively simple, while the outdoor equipment would require wiring and concealment. All of this required patience and caution.

Lin Xiao had always been patient. Once he had more Source Energy in the future, he intended to expand the network coverage further. By then, he could acquire a fleet of drones; whether for remote tracking or mounting thermobaric grenades, his safety would be much more secure.

"It would be great if I had a team to assist," Lin Xiao sighed softly.

Imagining a scene protected by drones around the clock, he couldn't help but feel a flutter of excitement. But he immediately shook his head—even with a friend like Xu Tao, it would be difficult to explain the origins of this "otherworldly technology."

Knights of the previous era, upon seeing a firearm, would immediately want to ban it. The powerful ability users, seeing tech products that could control things thousands of miles away without relying on supernatural power, would likely be just as resistant and exclusionary.

Technology in this world had not advanced for several hundred years. Lin Xiao didn't know why, but he always felt that there was a hand behind the scenes controlling everything.

He wouldn't randomly popularize equipment and technology from his past life. On one hand, his Source Energy couldn't afford the consumption, but more importantly, this was a world with true gods and countless titans. Using it cautiously was one thing, but bringing out large quantities of items, or even systematic high-tech goods, was a huge risk when he couldn't predict the reactions of the powerful figures.

"Forget it, stop thinking about it!" Lin Xiao started undressing to get ready for bed. "I'm just a small fry; managing myself is enough!"

Halfway through changing, he suddenly felt his pocket and blurted out, "Did I forget to give the tax exemption permit to Yang Shubai?"

Things had been happening one after another in her shop earlier. Especially after obtaining the painful memories from Yue Chongguang, he had rushed back in such a hurry that he completely forgot the original reason he went to see Yang Shubai was to deliver the permit.

"I'll have to make another trip first thing tomorrow morning, and pay back the money I borrowed from her while I'm at it," Lin Xiao calculated to himself.

Thinking about repaying the money gave him a headache again. He had thought the financial crisis was solved, but it turned out the hole was even bigger.

He currently had 47,300 yuan on hand: 37,000 from yesterday’s revenue, and 10,300 as net income after reconciling accounts with Yang Shubai. Originally, after deducting 6,000 yuan in taxes, he would have had 38,892 yuan left for necessary expenses, which was perfectly sufficient. But after diverting that money to purchase Yue Chongguang’s painful memories, he had fallen into a cash crunch once again.

What bothered Lin Xiao most was that Yue Chongguang’s memory was so valuable that only giving him 40,000 yuan felt like he was shortchanging him, and he worried it might violate the "Pain Oath." However, the contract stated the amount in black and white, and he knew Yue Chongguang wouldn't accept direct handouts, so he would have to find another way to compensate him.

When calculated this way, the funding gap was even larger!

If this were a few days ago, Lin Xiao might have been too anxious to sleep. But now he was much calmer, full of confidence in his gourmet memory products. At the very least, as long as the memory experiences lasted, cash flow shouldn't be a problem.

However, relying solely on selling gourmet memories wasn't a long-term solution. This was already the second replication; not only had the cost doubled, but the cost-effectiveness was also declining. If he were to replicate it a third time, it would cost 9 points of Source Energy, and he absolutely couldn't be that wasteful.

"No use overthinking it; there will be a way when the time comes. Don't think about things that interfere with sleep before bed!"

Lin Xiao decisively threw his worries to the back of his mind, set his phone alarm, pulled the quilt over his head, and fell asleep.

...

...

"Listen, the departure of winter, I wake up in a certain year, a certain month..."

Accompanied by the gentle singing of a "niche singer," Lin Xiao slowly drifted awake from his dreams. He finally didn't have to endure the harsh ringing of a mechanical alarm clock.

He kept his eyes closed, and through muscle memory, he reached out and swiped, precisely turning off the phone alarm.

"Five more minutes!"

That was the benefit of being his own boss—no one would deduct his salary for being late; at worst, he would just open the shop a few minutes later.

The time for a nap always passed in a flash; the second alarm seemed to ring after only thirty seconds.

"It is a sunny morning, the sound of pigeon whistles accompanies the reveille..."

Amidst the resounding military song, Lin Xiao sat up with a conditioned reflex.

8:30 AM. He quickly finished washing up, ate a simple breakfast, and walked to the shop entrance to prepare for business.

Just as he reached the door, the scene before him gave him a shock!

Over twenty customers were already lined up at the entrance, and not far away, several passersby were standing in groups of twos and threes to watch the excitement.

"Are all these people waiting for me to open?" Lin Xiao recognized at a glance that seven or eight of them were regular customers from yesterday.

It seemed they hadn't just become repeat customers themselves, but had brought friends and family along?

The business prospects seemed extremely bright.

Lin Xiao smiled and opened the shop door; the customers surged in immediately.

"Boss, I want to experience the 'super feast' memory from yesterday!"

"My husband said the gourmet memories here are especially wonderful and insisted I come to experience it!"

"Can I try it first? Ever since I developed diabetes and high blood pressure, I haven't been able to enjoy food for a long time."

The small shop was instantly packed with people, all urging Lin Xiao to start quickly.

Lin Xiao scrambled to maintain order, telling the customers to queue up and wait.

"Don't rush, don't rush, one at a time!" he shouted, raising his voice, but it was quickly drowned out by the noisy discussions.

Lin Xiao didn't even have time to drink a sip of water; he could only keep arranging for customers to sit down and activate the memory amber, his ears filled with their exclamations and urging.

He didn't finish sending off the last satisfied customer until one o'clock in the afternoon.

He had served 43 customers in the morning, selling 62 gourmet memory experiences.

He had brought in 31,000 yuan in just one morning.

The speed of making money was truly astonishing!

But Lin Xiao knew clearly that the sale of gourmet memories wasn't sustainable. The two memory crystals had a combined total of 400 uses, and 136 of those had already been consumed.

He had to plan ahead and develop new sources of income.

After a quick lunch, Lin Xiao put on his backpack and headed out again.

Yang Shubai should be awake by now, right?

Before leaving, he wrote on the notice board at the door:

"The boss is out, went to find a girl as beautiful as a fairy. Taking the afternoon off, I trust everyone understands."